Slovenian opposition demands FM's resignation

Slovenia's opposition on Thursday demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec by submitting an interpellation on which parliament must vote within 40 days and which it is willing to withdraw if Prime Minister Miro Cerar replaces Erjavec, his main coalition partner in the government.

MPs of the Slovenian Democratic Party and the New Slovenia party accuse Erjavec of "improvisation" and "failures" in foreign policy, of financial irregularities and clientelism in his ministry, and of making statements which made Croatia walk out of border arbitration.

The authors of the interpellation claim that Erjavec has jeopardised Slovenian interests with "a series of injudicious and irresponsible statements," including his claims that Slovenia will gain access to the high seas in the border dispute with Croatia, which resulted in a scandal and Croatia's walking out of the process.

Erjavec has to respond to the accusations in writing, after which parliament will vote on whether he should remain in office or be relieved of duty. The interpellation is unlikely to succeed given that, as president of the Democratic Party of Pensioners, he is Cerar's strongest political partner in the tripartite government. Without Erjavec's votes, Cerar would lose the parliamentary majority.

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